Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia! After an amazing week or so spent on Lake Titicaca (on both the Peru and Bolivia side) we have now made our way to the chaotic, crowded and fascinating high elevation city of La Paz! We will be staying in La Paz to welcome in the new year and then heading south through Bolivia... That said, a major Bolvian transportation strike started yesterday and bus service is either not happening at all or in some cases has over doubled in cost-- hopefully things will get better by next week before we head off... Or else we will get to know La Paz and surrounding areas real well!
I should say here that I have wanted to visit Lake Titicaca for a long time. It all began when my dear friend Rebecca Fox-- miss you Fox-- came home from traveling around South America a few years back and made me a beautiful card on a printed photo she had taken at the lake. She also bought me an amazing pair of alpaca leg warmers-- which was just icing on the cake. Fascinated by the name and its beauty... a few years later I finally made it!
Our time on the Peru side of Lake Titicaca was lovely. We stayed a few nights in Puno and did a full day island tour of Taquille and the floating islands called Uros. Both beautiful and fascinating, it was a wonderful day around the lake. A highlight for sure was visiting Uros-- a community of many floating islands all made out of reeds! We even got to take a reed boat ride around the lake! It was incredible!
After Puno we headed to Copacabana on Lake Titicaca in Bolivia. After a smooth but expensive border crossing (only US citizens have to pay $135 dollars to enter the country) we made our way to Copa and checked into one of the nicest hotels in town-- Hostal La Cupula! Well worth the splurge (mind you, the splurge ran us each $15 USD/ night) we enjoyed 2 nights in the luxury of a private room and bath, clean duvets, a small fire place, space heaters and access to the lovely grounds of the hostal-- of course including hammocks and gorgeous lake views. It was heaven! Copa was a nice little town and we enjoyed hiking around and eating good food-- especially at our hotel restaurant which was delicious and fairly cheap! The cathedral in Copa is gorgeous and is the site of daily car blessings where people from Copa and beyond line their cars outside of the cathedral and get their cars all decked out to be blessed... fresh flowers adorn their precious rides, champagne is poured, beers opened and wildly sprayed, lavish decorations are hung from the cars and of course confetti is thrown in the air over the car and the car owners. It was quite a fascinating sight to see! I am thinking of bringing my Pontiac Sunfire to Grace Cathedral when I get home and blessing my beautiful pewter chariot there! Who is with me?... Gabi?
The day before Christmas we took a boat over to Isla Del Sol to spend a night on the Island of the Sun! We took the boat to the north of the island and then hiked to the south, to the community of Yumani. It was an amazing hike and we were lucky to have perfect weather along the way. We got to visit some Inca ruins too and check out the small island communities as well as we hiked across the island. We had a great evening in Yumnai with our friends Catie and John from the UK: playing cards, drinking whiskey and watching the sunset. After a relaxing and early night, we awoke on Christmas morning to see that it had snowed on the island and everything had a nice coating of white! I thought I escaped white Christmases once I moved out of Canada... but I guess not! Due to the wet and wild weather, we caught the first boat out to Copa and thankfully enjoyed some afternoon sunshine and no snow back on the mainland!
And now, we are starting our second day in La Paz and are enjoying ourselves so far. Our hostel here is called the Adventure Brew Hostel and is a hostel and microbrewery! In the morning we get to enjoy all-you-can-eat pancakes and in the evening we get a brew on the house. It is pretty awesome! Who knows, if the strike keeps up, we will be enjoying LOADS of free pancakes and beers! We shall see...
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